Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, August 30, 2009
English
I was born in Jabalpur and brought up in a village near Ratalam, both prominently Hindi speaking Metros and I have been speaking Hindi all my childhood.
Conversations in English were unfamiliar and uncomfortable for me, because neither my family nor my friend circle used to talk in English. Like many children in my village, I was both fascinated and frightened of this language because of so many different rules it brings. Later I realised there were more exceptions than rules in this language.
My father was very keen that his children learn this language well, because he was worried that an upbringing in rural environment may seriously hamper the overall growth and our ability to compete later in an English dominated world.
He had a good collection of Reader's Digest old Editions, which he gathered specially so that his children may get a chance to be exposed to quality English magazines. But I liked the Hindi Edition of this wonderful magazine RD, which was named "Sarvottam", better. I still think it is the best Hindi magazine I have read (Champak and Nandan being the other two favourites). It translated RD in such a high class yet understandable Hindi which is difficult considering RD was set in US environment, and to make Indian readers understand that in our language, is really an achievement. Anyway, English magazines seemed too foreign for my imagination and really were of no help in discussing latest happenings in the lives of Super Commando Dhruv and Nagaraj with my friends, these two were our childhood heroes.
Papaji continued his efforts of making us better at English. When I was in class IV, he prepared a 3*4 Tense-Chart describing the 4 parts (indefinite, continuous, perfect and future perfect) of the 3 time frames of past, present and future. He used to make us practise that chart daily describing all 12 permutations a sentence can be formed with. In that village, this was almost unheard of. Of the overall population of 2000, hardly 4 or 5 people in the village could read an English newspaper and I doubt even one could understand it properly.
I did not enjoy those English lessons much, but had no choice. Having been brought up in such an environment, my fear or respect for this language reached an illogical level, and further events carried this feeling on.
Somehow English in India, specially I can tell about the Hindi speaking states, is given a higher degree of importance than it deserves. In school and college, my friends and I had this fascination toward anything English. People 'capable' of making or carrying conversations in this language were considered sophisticated and/or stylish. It used to be a matter of pride if you were a follower of English literature and cinema, and such people deserved special treatment of deference. A normal sentence spoken in English used to elevate the standing of the person in the group.
It's difficult to explain now, but we used to put someone's English speaking ability over even his/her Mathematics or Engineering ability, the latter two are really something which the person should be proud of.
That aura has gone down now, but was it correct in the first place ? In the end, English is 'just a language' and ability or inability to express yourself in this language shouldn't be a matter of pride or shame. It isn't a greater feat to speak or write well in English than being able to do so in Hindi, infact it is harder in Hindi. So good speakers of Hindi should be held in higher esteem than those of English, but that's not the way society thinks ..
On some other note, Punjabi fast songs have a vibration of their own, like Bhangra songs always make you move at pace, but perhaps its the Punjabi slow emotional tunes which are my personal favourites. If you get some time, listen to this song. It is simple, calm, soothing and beautiful. It makes me think, many good songs feature in bad movies, like many talented Engineers feature in bad companies :)
Also, following is my most favourite poem, it is my favourite for not only its content but something more also ..
tum jo chaho to kaho
Conversations in English were unfamiliar and uncomfortable for me, because neither my family nor my friend circle used to talk in English. Like many children in my village, I was both fascinated and frightened of this language because of so many different rules it brings. Later I realised there were more exceptions than rules in this language.
My father was very keen that his children learn this language well, because he was worried that an upbringing in rural environment may seriously hamper the overall growth and our ability to compete later in an English dominated world.
He had a good collection of Reader's Digest old Editions, which he gathered specially so that his children may get a chance to be exposed to quality English magazines. But I liked the Hindi Edition of this wonderful magazine RD, which was named "Sarvottam", better. I still think it is the best Hindi magazine I have read (Champak and Nandan being the other two favourites). It translated RD in such a high class yet understandable Hindi which is difficult considering RD was set in US environment, and to make Indian readers understand that in our language, is really an achievement. Anyway, English magazines seemed too foreign for my imagination and really were of no help in discussing latest happenings in the lives of Super Commando Dhruv and Nagaraj with my friends, these two were our childhood heroes.
Papaji continued his efforts of making us better at English. When I was in class IV, he prepared a 3*4 Tense-Chart describing the 4 parts (indefinite, continuous, perfect and future perfect) of the 3 time frames of past, present and future. He used to make us practise that chart daily describing all 12 permutations a sentence can be formed with. In that village, this was almost unheard of. Of the overall population of 2000, hardly 4 or 5 people in the village could read an English newspaper and I doubt even one could understand it properly.
I did not enjoy those English lessons much, but had no choice. Having been brought up in such an environment, my fear or respect for this language reached an illogical level, and further events carried this feeling on.
Somehow English in India, specially I can tell about the Hindi speaking states, is given a higher degree of importance than it deserves. In school and college, my friends and I had this fascination toward anything English. People 'capable' of making or carrying conversations in this language were considered sophisticated and/or stylish. It used to be a matter of pride if you were a follower of English literature and cinema, and such people deserved special treatment of deference. A normal sentence spoken in English used to elevate the standing of the person in the group.
It's difficult to explain now, but we used to put someone's English speaking ability over even his/her Mathematics or Engineering ability, the latter two are really something which the person should be proud of.
That aura has gone down now, but was it correct in the first place ? In the end, English is 'just a language' and ability or inability to express yourself in this language shouldn't be a matter of pride or shame. It isn't a greater feat to speak or write well in English than being able to do so in Hindi, infact it is harder in Hindi. So good speakers of Hindi should be held in higher esteem than those of English, but that's not the way society thinks ..
On some other note, Punjabi fast songs have a vibration of their own, like Bhangra songs always make you move at pace, but perhaps its the Punjabi slow emotional tunes which are my personal favourites. If you get some time, listen to this song. It is simple, calm, soothing and beautiful. It makes me think, many good songs feature in bad movies, like many talented Engineers feature in bad companies :)
Also, following is my most favourite poem, it is my favourite for not only its content but something more also ..
gulshane yaad mein ger aj daame baad_e_saba
phir say chahay kay gulafshaan ho to ho janay do
umraay rafta kay kisi taaq pay bisr hua dard
phir say chahay kay firoozaan ho to ho janay do
jaisay baigana say miltay ho ab vaisay he sahee
ao do char ghari meray muqabil bhaitho
ghercha mil bhaithey gay hum tum to mulaqat kay baad
apna ehsaas_e_ zeyaan aur ziada ho ga
koi iqraar na tum yaad dilaao gay na mein
koi mazmoon vafa ka ho ga na jafa ka
gurd_e_ ayyam ki tehreer ko dhahoonay kay liye
tum say goya hoon dam_e_deed jo palkein meri
tum jo chaho to suno,jo na chaho to na suno
aur herf karein jo tum say jo guraizaan aankhein
tum jo chaho to kaho
aur jo na chaho to na kaho
Monday, August 24, 2009
Team
The dynamics of being an individual contributor in the project and being a team player are quite different from each other. This difference is what separates working on academic projects, from being part of a company project involving at least 10 people in a team. It can be a rewarding or a frustrating experience, depending on what you enjoy more. If you are the kind of person, who "gels" well with people generally, there are good chances you would fit well in a team. On the other hand, if you are the "my way or highway" kind of person, working in a team project can be sometimes difficult. In a discussion meeting, you have to listen (or pretend to listen) to views from everyone in the team, nod at the right places, taking care that no one gets offended, and still somehow find a way to do what you already decided before the meeting commenced anyway. It is funny to watch people giving their valuable inputs in the meeting without knowing much about the topic of discussion (I do it myself sometimes, just to avoid being caught about either lack of knowledge or interest in the discussion).
People are very different from computers, and can sometimes be quite impossible. It isn't strange to see some very talented engineers in software industry leave the company because they are not happy with the "environment" of the company, despite being paid good salary. This environment is the team/manager/colleagues they work with. Such engineers may be very good technically, but fail to (or are unwilling to) master the art of dealing with other people, who don't always subscribe to their way of thinking.
Computers are logical, they work on a well defined pattern. An instruction entered will always work the same way, unlike humans whose reactions to praise/criticism/indifference is highly dependent on their mood, beliefs and cultural background. Debugging computer programs can be great fun because it will always improve the quality of your program, but with people this process may deteriorate the quality of your relationships.
I am not saying such complexity in human response patterns makes computers easier to work with, far from it. It is just that these two pose different challenges and require different skills to deal with them.
On to some other topic, hmm... I was discussing with my friend about the "feedback for improvement" concept the other day, and how should one give/receive it.
A 100% straightforward person can be analogous to the computer in terms of the feedback he gives you on your performance, it may be positive/negative, even right/wrong, but it will be what he "really" believes.
BTW, it is neither easy nor advisable to be so straightforward when your feedback is asked for.
I have been a victim of such temptations while giving feedback, and faced situations where I found myself deriving pleasure from giving negative feedback, in proving the other person wrong. Praising myself for saying what I felt, irrespective of its effect on him. Well, this is not being honest, it is being mean, and without loss of generality I can say such behaviour originates from being not-so-honest while my own mistakes are being analysed.
IMO, while giving someone any feedback, we should take care of 3 things:
1. The feedback should be honest and correct.
2. We should detach our own feelings from the process, and most importantly,
3. The feedback should be helpful to the person in his improvement.
Often, we, in order to give honest feedback, and in desire to be straightforward, can be brutal. It does not help, I think. Our purpose should never be to prove how right we are and how wrong he is, but only what we think is needed to improve the other person. Sometimes, sugar-coating is required, by all means do it. Being brutally honest about his mistakes or shortcomings may be highly satisfying for me, but it does not serve any real purpose. The feedback is meant to help him, not my ego. I must admit, this is a lesson I am still learning. I think the chance to criticise someone else is too attractive to let go in the name of being logically correct..hihihihi..
Enough for now... have to go to Gym.
People are very different from computers, and can sometimes be quite impossible. It isn't strange to see some very talented engineers in software industry leave the company because they are not happy with the "environment" of the company, despite being paid good salary. This environment is the team/manager/colleagues they work with. Such engineers may be very good technically, but fail to (or are unwilling to) master the art of dealing with other people, who don't always subscribe to their way of thinking.
Computers are logical, they work on a well defined pattern. An instruction entered will always work the same way, unlike humans whose reactions to praise/criticism/indifference is highly dependent on their mood, beliefs and cultural background. Debugging computer programs can be great fun because it will always improve the quality of your program, but with people this process may deteriorate the quality of your relationships.
I am not saying such complexity in human response patterns makes computers easier to work with, far from it. It is just that these two pose different challenges and require different skills to deal with them.
On to some other topic, hmm... I was discussing with my friend about the "feedback for improvement" concept the other day, and how should one give/receive it.
A 100% straightforward person can be analogous to the computer in terms of the feedback he gives you on your performance, it may be positive/negative, even right/wrong, but it will be what he "really" believes.
BTW, it is neither easy nor advisable to be so straightforward when your feedback is asked for.
I have been a victim of such temptations while giving feedback, and faced situations where I found myself deriving pleasure from giving negative feedback, in proving the other person wrong. Praising myself for saying what I felt, irrespective of its effect on him. Well, this is not being honest, it is being mean, and without loss of generality I can say such behaviour originates from being not-so-honest while my own mistakes are being analysed.
IMO, while giving someone any feedback, we should take care of 3 things:
1. The feedback should be honest and correct.
2. We should detach our own feelings from the process, and most importantly,
3. The feedback should be helpful to the person in his improvement.
Often, we, in order to give honest feedback, and in desire to be straightforward, can be brutal. It does not help, I think. Our purpose should never be to prove how right we are and how wrong he is, but only what we think is needed to improve the other person. Sometimes, sugar-coating is required, by all means do it. Being brutally honest about his mistakes or shortcomings may be highly satisfying for me, but it does not serve any real purpose. The feedback is meant to help him, not my ego. I must admit, this is a lesson I am still learning. I think the chance to criticise someone else is too attractive to let go in the name of being logically correct..hihihihi..
Enough for now... have to go to Gym.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Love and God
Before starting this post, I was wondering what should it be entitled with ? After some thinking, I came to realise it did not matter. Why should there be a title at all for my conversations with myself and You ? It is a conversation, the thoughts just flow, and my purpose is to save them for later reference, just to recall 30-40 years later, of what we were in August 2009. Isn't this idea exciting, to know about one's past from oneself ?
Coming back to the original topic (was there any ?), I was recently reading Dr. APJ Kalam's "Wings of Fire", and it's an interesting book. There are some books which one immediately feels comfortable with, as if the compatibility or frequency with that book just matches (isn't it true with people also ?). This book was one of them. It told me a lot about what Dr. Kalam wanted to tell his fellow countrymen, the joy he felt at being a proud Indian, and the amazing story of the progress of India's missile program. But this book is more than that, it also throws light upon his values and outlook as a thorough professional and a sensitive human being.
In one passage, he talks about the concept of "flow" one feels when one does his job with love. I believe it is same for all the great sports personalities, scientists, or artists. They are in the state of "flow" more often than others and that makes them so special. For them, performing in their field of work at that moment assumes so much importance that all the boundaries or concepts of past and future become irrelevant. I liked and agreed fully to this particular paragraph.
From a personal point of view, and drawing from my limited experience in the Art of Software Engineering, I found this "flow" to be the single most important quality to be successful at what you do. This flow or in other words "total involvement" in the process will fetch you success, irrespective of your talent, and previous knowledge. This total involvement makes you go for the Goal with all your being. The heart and mind collaborate in a fashion that nothing else matters. So much force is bound to be successful.
What is this "total involvement" ? What are its important ingredients ? My dear friend sent these lines by the great poet TulsiDas. He writes in Ramayan:
“Jinke hiy hai, satya-saneha,
Vo tumhein paye, nahi koi sandeha.”
Any one who has truth and love in his heart, he is bound to evolve as the most powerful man (to be perceived as God) on the earth. Of this, there is no doubt.
My friend tells :
I completely agree. It will not be too wrong to say the application of this law will be helpful in attaining this "total involvement" state, which is not much different from meeting the God.
This makes me realise, this post does indeed deserve a title.
May God bless you all... (After me).
Coming back to the original topic (was there any ?), I was recently reading Dr. APJ Kalam's "Wings of Fire", and it's an interesting book. There are some books which one immediately feels comfortable with, as if the compatibility or frequency with that book just matches (isn't it true with people also ?). This book was one of them. It told me a lot about what Dr. Kalam wanted to tell his fellow countrymen, the joy he felt at being a proud Indian, and the amazing story of the progress of India's missile program. But this book is more than that, it also throws light upon his values and outlook as a thorough professional and a sensitive human being.
In one passage, he talks about the concept of "flow" one feels when one does his job with love. I believe it is same for all the great sports personalities, scientists, or artists. They are in the state of "flow" more often than others and that makes them so special. For them, performing in their field of work at that moment assumes so much importance that all the boundaries or concepts of past and future become irrelevant. I liked and agreed fully to this particular paragraph.
From a personal point of view, and drawing from my limited experience in the Art of Software Engineering, I found this "flow" to be the single most important quality to be successful at what you do. This flow or in other words "total involvement" in the process will fetch you success, irrespective of your talent, and previous knowledge. This total involvement makes you go for the Goal with all your being. The heart and mind collaborate in a fashion that nothing else matters. So much force is bound to be successful.
What is this "total involvement" ? What are its important ingredients ? My dear friend sent these lines by the great poet TulsiDas. He writes in Ramayan:
“Jinke hiy hai, satya-saneha,
Vo tumhein paye, nahi koi sandeha.”
Any one who has truth and love in his heart, he is bound to evolve as the most powerful man (to be perceived as God) on the earth. Of this, there is no doubt.
My friend tells :
Many times it feels as if Tulsidas has uttered the law of nature.
I completely agree. It will not be too wrong to say the application of this law will be helpful in attaining this "total involvement" state, which is not much different from meeting the God.
This makes me realise, this post does indeed deserve a title.
May God bless you all... (After me).
Be grateful
So, after 3-4 weeks of quite an exhausting experience of putting countless hours at work for building a power estimator tool as part of my project (I had to put some promises to some special people off during this period), I finally got time today for something else. Though energy sapping, working on and completing this power estimator tool gave me good satisfaction. The tool is built now, it looks nice and hopefully, it will go through the rigorous testing of QA at SoftJin , intact. Amen!!!
Ok... so I am here today to spend a quite Saturday noon at my home, with my HP laptop, writing whatever comes to my relaxed and happy mind. A weekend today, I want to spend it doing calculations on my own life and that of the dear ones...
As is the case in such situations, mind often wanders to reflect on the ultimate gift of God... The Life, and the eternal universal question associated with it. What is the secret to live a happy one, if there is any?
Life itself is sometimes very educative in answering this question for you.. I find after some introspection, that though life deprives you of many pleasures you feel will make you happy, the importance to appreciate what you already have, can not be overemphasized. Yes, sure, I want few more things to change in me, my friends, my family and my workplace. That said, I must at least take time to appreciate what God has bestowed on me.... Did I deserve all the success I have got, however moderate it was ? Did I deserve to live peacefully without much financial concern, the money that I take for granted ? Did I deserve to be born to the parents who did not think twice before providing all the reasonable facilities to me, trying hard so that I can complete my education and launch a career which gives good money and satisfaction to me (well, not always, but generally) ? What about the friends I have met till now, who have given me so much happiness by being in my life, guiding me through it with their advices and timely help ? Did I deserve them ? Who knows, maybe I did.. at least I would like to think that way... but then I consider this : There are many souls who struggle day in and day out, living a mediocre life in terms of comforts it offers.. Does none of them "deserve" it more than I do? Is none of them more intelligent, smart and a better human than me ?
Hmm....
In moments such as these, I thank God for the beauty of my life.. Despite its painful moments, which anyway are outnumbered by seemingly unrecognized happy ones.
Thank You God, and just as an afterthought, please make sure You continue the good work. I appreciate it. (Corporate mumbo-jumbo :) )
Having taken a moment to appreciate Him, given that all things good with me are not my doing, but His, I would like to bring His attention to the things which need improvement and NOW.
I am seriously working on improving my consistency and motivation levels of doing the important things, and doing them right. Procrastination, putting important things off, has been one of the major issues I have been facing all my life. It appears so simple, with the comfortable life we have, that it is frustrating to see my failure in being consistent at doing something I decide to do. There must be a silly reason to it, and it is perhaps a cyclic procedure.. procrastination feeds on itself.. You break a link and the whole system of putting things off suddenly starts unfolding itself, which really is all meaningless.
BTW, I am hugely impressed by people who "take actions", as generally one is impressed by the qualities one does not possess himself. I realize it tells about the people I appreciate and me as an individual too :)
Anyway, the key to breaking this loop of procrastination is keep putting myself in this zone or situation as often as I can, and God willing, some of those will result in fruitful actions.
I remember the Great Vivekanand's quote "Arise, Awake and rest not till the Goal is achieved."
On this beautiful thought, I end this particular discussion with You.
Rest later.
Ok... so I am here today to spend a quite Saturday noon at my home, with my HP laptop, writing whatever comes to my relaxed and happy mind. A weekend today, I want to spend it doing calculations on my own life and that of the dear ones...
As is the case in such situations, mind often wanders to reflect on the ultimate gift of God... The Life, and the eternal universal question associated with it. What is the secret to live a happy one, if there is any?
Life itself is sometimes very educative in answering this question for you.. I find after some introspection, that though life deprives you of many pleasures you feel will make you happy, the importance to appreciate what you already have, can not be overemphasized. Yes, sure, I want few more things to change in me, my friends, my family and my workplace. That said, I must at least take time to appreciate what God has bestowed on me.... Did I deserve all the success I have got, however moderate it was ? Did I deserve to live peacefully without much financial concern, the money that I take for granted ? Did I deserve to be born to the parents who did not think twice before providing all the reasonable facilities to me, trying hard so that I can complete my education and launch a career which gives good money and satisfaction to me (well, not always, but generally) ? What about the friends I have met till now, who have given me so much happiness by being in my life, guiding me through it with their advices and timely help ? Did I deserve them ? Who knows, maybe I did.. at least I would like to think that way... but then I consider this : There are many souls who struggle day in and day out, living a mediocre life in terms of comforts it offers.. Does none of them "deserve" it more than I do? Is none of them more intelligent, smart and a better human than me ?
Hmm....
In moments such as these, I thank God for the beauty of my life.. Despite its painful moments, which anyway are outnumbered by seemingly unrecognized happy ones.
Thank You God, and just as an afterthought, please make sure You continue the good work. I appreciate it. (Corporate mumbo-jumbo :) )
Having taken a moment to appreciate Him, given that all things good with me are not my doing, but His, I would like to bring His attention to the things which need improvement and NOW.
I am seriously working on improving my consistency and motivation levels of doing the important things, and doing them right. Procrastination, putting important things off, has been one of the major issues I have been facing all my life. It appears so simple, with the comfortable life we have, that it is frustrating to see my failure in being consistent at doing something I decide to do. There must be a silly reason to it, and it is perhaps a cyclic procedure.. procrastination feeds on itself.. You break a link and the whole system of putting things off suddenly starts unfolding itself, which really is all meaningless.
BTW, I am hugely impressed by people who "take actions", as generally one is impressed by the qualities one does not possess himself. I realize it tells about the people I appreciate and me as an individual too :)
Anyway, the key to breaking this loop of procrastination is keep putting myself in this zone or situation as often as I can, and God willing, some of those will result in fruitful actions.
I remember the Great Vivekanand's quote "Arise, Awake and rest not till the Goal is achieved."
On this beautiful thought, I end this particular discussion with You.
Rest later.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)